May 9 elections in Cebu all systems go

CEBU CITY—It’s all systems go in Cebu for the May 9 elections. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday (May 5) announced that it found no major glitches in the final testing and sealing of vote counting machines (VCMs) here. According to Election Officer Marilou Paredes, there were only ”minor problems” that can easily be corrected. For Cebu City, Paredes said all VCMs were completely deployed to different polling centers as early as 3 a.m. There are at least 520 clustered precincts in Cebu City south district while the north district has 444 clustered precincts. This means at least 964 VCMs had already been delivered. The VCMs will be stored in secure rooms at the polling centers until the elections on May 9. It will also be guarded by poll watchers. Paredes said there are only a handful “contingency” VCM machines for Cebu City if a unit conks out. But, she said, the Comelec can easily secure more machines since Cebu is one of the hubs or storage sites for VCMs in Central Visayas. Aside from political party watchers and poll workers, present during the final testing of VCMs were foreign observers from the European Union, specifically from Spain. The foreign observers consisted of election experts, legal officers and media. During the testing, the machines were operated to scan ballots, print votes, and transmit results. Due to continuing threat of COVID-19, only 10 voters are allowed inside a voting precinct at a given time. Paredes said there will also be medical personnel at the gates of the school or the polling center to check on voters before they are allowed inside. The independent cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu as well as Cebu province have a combined voting population of 3.21 million, the biggest among provinces.

TSB